RBI gets its youngest deputy governor post-liberalisation

MUMBAI: A 42-year-old IITian, he is passionate about Kishore Kumar songs, has an album to his credit, and has now set a new record at the Reserve Bank of India.

Viral Acharya, named by RBI as its new deputy governor on Wednesday, comes with an unusual bag of talents and a formidable academic profile. The youngest deputy governor to be appointed post-liberalisation, Acharya is the CV Starr professor of economics at New York University's Stern School of Business and earlier taught at London Business School.

Acharya fills in the vacancy created by the elevation of Urjit Patel as RBI governor. Of the four deputy governors, two are internal appointees, NS Vishwanathan and R Gandhi. The one in charge of banking operations, SS Mundra, is a former bank chief. The fourth, who gets the portfolio of monetary policy and research, is always an economist.

Acharya who refers to fellow IITian Raghuram Rajan as "a great source of inspiration", has co-authored papers along with the former RBI chief. As a solo artist, Acharya has scored compositions and lyrics for a Hindi music album called 'Yaadon Ke Silsile—An ode to friends and some romantic moods.'

Known for his work in financial stability - an area of regulation which came into focus during the global financial crisis --- the new RBI deputy governor is remembered for his views on public sector banks, which were published in a 2015 report that he jointly authored. Describing their condition as precarious, his report recommended recapitalization, improved governance and privatization of some of the banks in the long run.

While the list of papers published by him runs into 20 pages.

An Indian-born, post-liberalization professional, Acharya went to college in the year in which Manmohan Singh delivered his epochal budget speech of 1991. He stood fifth in the joint entrance exam of the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai and went on to graduate in computer science. After graduation he moved to the US where he pursued a Ph.D in computer science for a year before deciding to shift gears to finance. He obtained his doctorate in finance.

In a post online, Acharya describes music as his passion. "I have a slight preference for Indian and Western classical music and a strong preference for light Indian film music, especially the songs composed by S.D.Burman and R.D.Burman and rendered by Kishore Kumar."

Acharya has had a close association with former governor Raghuram Rajan with whom he has authored half a dozen papers including one on "Sovereign Debt, Government Myopia and the Financial Sector" in 2013. The former governor is also one of his references in his CV.

Like Rajan, Acharya also comes from an academic background and has also co-authored at least three papers with the former RBI governor. Acharya is quoted as saying, "Raghu has been a great source of inspiration for me".

While delivering a lecture in 2013, Acharya had narrated an incident when someone asked him on a flight whether he was Raghuram Rajan, after seeing him, an Indian, with papers on banking and crisis.

Just like Rajan, Acharya has also been a strong votary of the independence of central banks and favoured them being "democratically accountable, yet be operationally independent from political influence".

Acharya has been appoined for a three-year term from the date of his taking charge. Acharya will join on January 20, 2017.

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